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Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Mercedes-Benz Eyes Midsize Pickup Possibility

According to The Wall Street Journal, the luxury German automaker is seriously considering building a pickup truck for the global market in the next five years.

Reports are piling up regarding automakers thinking about creating new pickup trucks for their U.S. portfolios as pickup sales continue to climb. Hyundai caught the fever and made quite a bit of noise during January's North American International Auto Show with its crossover-based Santa Cruz concept. Now Mercedes-Benz is thinking about joining the fun.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the luxury German automaker is seriously considering building a pickup truck for the global market in the next five years. No further production or technical details were released about this new model other than it's likely to be able to carry 1 metric ton (the typical amount for a midsize global player) and offer more luxury than current global pickup offerings. This isn't the first time Mercedes has made such overtures, but there's no word about whether the vehicle will ever make it to the U.S.

The article also speculates about M-B entering the full-size pickup market; however, Mercedes adamantly dismissed the idea of ever competing with the likes of the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado or Ram 1500.

We should note that Mercedes recently introduced its Sprinter van with four-wheel-drive capability, so it seems possible that it could easily modify a crew-cab cargo van to offer a pickup bed for commercial and consumer markets, especially since Mercedes announced it will be producing commercial vans in the U.S. in the near future.

Due to importation tax penalties in the U.S., Sprinter vans currently produced in Germany are disassembled and boxed for transport to the U.S., where they are then reassembled for sale. If a new production facility is able to accommodate a Sprinter pickup, that could make things very interesting for Mercedes and other truckmakers here in the U.S.